Few things disrupt public life
on roads and streets with more audacity than beggars chasing people for a paltry
amount of money. It is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon to be
interrupted, often insolently, while driving a car or on foot, by a barefoot
child, a seemingly healthy woman carrying a bandaged infant, or an aging man
waving a few pages at you. They have become a big source of distraction for the
public. Most of them shamelessly shock commuters in an attempt to generate
maximum sympathy. They have horrific appearances or disabilities that are a
convenient tool for extorting whatever little money they can, walking, limping
or roller-skating with amputated legs up and down a road all day. For some
commuters it does arouse an element of pity, while for many of them it is no
more than a sickening nuisance.
Sometimes one come across a deaf or dumb beggar lifting blind or lame beggar on
his back and begging for alms. It is also usual to see a leper placed on a low
cart and carried from place to place. These beggars know human psychology and
work according to that. But many are cheats and hypocrites. These beggars
deceive the innocent women and at items rob them.
The number of beggars in Pakistan is rising. These beggars live on the earnings
of others. It is really a curse that even able-bodied citizens of Pakistan
resort to begging. They indulge in various vices like drinking and gambling.
Their bodies are diseased. They carry with them infection and roam from place to
place and thus are responsible to a large extent for spreading epidemics.
Beggary has become a profession for most of those who are part of a much larger
industry that recruits, trains and relocates men, women and children. Two things
that drive this industry are ‘shock value’ and religious connotations of
charity. To increase the shock value of innocent beggars the industry, run by a
menacing mafia, has enough tricks up its sleeve. Acid and cigarette burns,
amputation, and starvation are some of them and pose a serious threat to an
individual’s health.
It’s such a complex issue in Pakistan and there seem to be an increase in the
number of beggars you see on the roads and corners of the streets. Since there
are just so many of them, you just don’t know who the real “Deserving one” is.
Especially children, you can't resist giving something to them, but at the same
time you just know what they will use the money for and it gets really scary
when they start stalking you.